798 cxxxTii. juncace.t;. 



Order CXXXVII. JUNCACE^. 



Erect usually perennial herbs ; stems tufted or with a creeping root- 

 stock. Leaves' flat, terete, or reduced to sheaths. Plowers usually 

 small, hennaplirodite, regular, in axillary or terminal cymes, green or 

 whitish and membranous, or brown and coriaceous ; bracts small. 

 Perianth inferior, persistent ; segments or lobes 6, more or less 2-seriate, 

 free or connate below in a very short tube, persistent, imbricate. 

 Stamens usually C, adnate to the base of the periunth-lobes or hvpo- 

 gynous, occasionally the 3 of the inner series absent ; filaments 

 filiform; anthers basiflxed. Ovary supei'ior, 3-celled or 1 -celled ; ovules 

 3 basilar in 1-celled ovaries, numerous on the inner angles of the cells 

 in 3-celled ovaries, anatropous. Pruit a capsule 1-3-celled, loculicidally 

 3-valved. Seeds erect; testa membranous, often produced at each end ; 

 albumen dense ; embryo small, near the hilum. — Distrib. Genera 14; 

 species about 200. 



1. JUNCUS, Linn. 



Perennial (rarely annual) glabrous herbs ; stems simple under the 

 inflorescence. Leaves radical, or few near the base of the stem, linear, 

 or terete, or reduced to sheaths. Plowers small, usually clustered in 

 fascicles or 2-fid cymules, either sessile capitate, or unequally peduncu- 

 late paniL'ulate, the whole inflorescence terminal or subterminal on the 

 scape-like stems, with 1-3 leafy bracts. Perianth with G glume-like 

 segments, free, lanceolate or oblong, often with scarious margins, the 

 3 outer keeled or with a thickened midrib. Stamens 6 (rarely 3), 

 hypogyuous or nearly so; anthers oblong or linear, erect; dehiscence 

 longitudinal, introrse. Ovary 1-celled or imperfectly or perfectly 3- 

 celled ; ovules many on each placenta; style tiliform ; stigmatic arms 3, 

 fihform, often spirally twisted. Pruit a capsule, dehiscing by 3 valves 

 with mesial placentas, or rarely by 3 valves leaving the placentas per- 

 sistent or connate in a central column. Seeds small, ovoid ; testa 

 striate, reticulate, or transvei'sely lineate ; embryo small, near the base 

 of the fleshy albumen. — Distrib. Species about 150, temperate and 

 arctic, rarely tropical. 



2-5 ft. high; leaves solicl, few; seeds shortly tailed at each 

 end ; iloral bract? ovato, mucroniite, with inembraiious 

 margins; anthers longer than the filauienls 1. J. marilimnA. 



2 ft. hiffh ; leaves with a central hollow; seeds not tailed; 

 floral bracts hyaline, acuminate ; anthers shorter than the 

 filaments ' 2. J. puiicforiiis. 



1. Juncus maritimus, Lamh, Encyc. Method, v. 3 (1789) p. 2G4. 

 Perennial, densely ca^spitose ; stems 2-5 ft. high, erect, terete, striate ; 

 pith solid ; basal sheaths short, narrow, obtuse, pungent, or produced 

 into a solid terete pungent leaf. Plowers in decompound cymes 1-2 in. 

 long, with erect branches; floral bracts ovale, mucronate, the margins 

 broadly membranous. Sepals l^-\ in. long, pale-green, with membi'anoiis 

 margins, lanceolate, acute. Petals slightly shorter, obtuse. Stamens ; 

 filaments dilated and connate at the base ; anthers linear, yellow, 

 longer than the filaments. Capsules longer than the sepals, ovoid or 

 conic, 3-gonous, obtuse, mucromate, shining, 3-celled. Seeds oblong or 

 obovoid, caudate at each end. Fl. B. I. v. 0, p. 393: Bueheii. INIuimg. 



